Journal of Carcinogenesis & Mutagenesis

Abstract

MicroRNA–Mediated Regulation of Apoptosis in Osteosarcoma

Masako Shimada

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone cancer that predominantly affects children and young adolescents. Despite the progress in understanding the pathophysiology of osteosarcoma, it remains gravely influencing mobility and mortality of those young patients. A balance between cell proliferation and apoptosis is often dysregulated in cancer; tumor cells often show accelerated proliferation and reduced apoptosis, resulting in uncontrolled cancer cell growth. The recent discovery of microRNAs has added an exciting new layer of research interest in the fields of medical research in general including cancer. miRNAs are a class of 22~25 nucleotide non-coding RNAs that play a critical role in epigenetic modification of physiological functions of their target genes. Various pathway-specific and tumor-specific miRNAs have been identified and the mechanisms, by which they regulate pathological characteristics of cancer cells, have been elucidated intensively during the past several years. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of apoptosis-related miRNAs in osteosarcoma and their future therapeutic potentials.